The Moment of Truth Again
by So4So2
Summary: The Moment of Truth is an intense episode, with Merlin and Arthur moments to adore. Here's a look into their minds. You see, Arthur is not as clueless as he seems;  and Merlin, not as foolish as he looks. It's a weird retelling, just  a heads up.


_The Moment of Truth _ is one of my absolute favorite episodes. The moments between Arthur and Merlin are so strong and the nuances of their relationship is so powerful, but it always feels like Arthur isn't given enough credit to his perceptiveness. So here's a really weird retelling of the episode through both points of view with a bunch of realizations and epiphanies thrown in.

Note: If anyone ever reads this, I'd love the feedback, and I don't get sensitive about criticism. I'm obsessed with the skill involved in brining charters to life in fiction, so I would love the secrets and the help, it's what prompted me to write this and finally get involved in this amazing community. Thanks, SoSo.

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><p><em>So still. Breathing. No heavy thinking. Morgana's got the fire trap covered, Gwen's in sight, the men are trained (as well as can be), Merlin beside him, the enemy is not here. yet. No heavy thinking.<em>

_Kainin's men! Over the river now through the trees._

_Come on, come on._

_Be still. Breathe. Been trained for this since birth, this battle is mine. No heavy thinking. Morgana get the fire started!_

"Something's wrong."

He hadn't meant to say that aloud. The men were rallied though, but no need to rile them. _Gwen is visible, safe, Merlin..._

_**MERLIN!**_

Merlin dodged the arrow as it whizzed above his head in full view of Arthur. _Ha! Awesome! Dollophead had better be proud._ Morgana was meant to set the flame, Arthur had been focused on the men, hadn't seen Morgana struggling.

_It's always his job to lead, mine to make sure everything else doesn't fall apart._

Merlin rounded the back of the village houses to Morgana, out running the men meant to be trapped by the flame Morgana couldn't conjure. So not a Warlock.

There she knelt, uselessly chipping the flint that sparked nothing. Merlin grabbed the stones with slight apology, tore them away gently enough, and made to strike them till Morgana looked away and Merlin could ignite the barrier, hand more obliging than the stone. He heard Moragan's breath hitch at the sudden burst of heat and the sight of looking back and seeing flames rising.

Merlin instinctively made to apologize, but for what really. He moved on reminding himself there was no skill that she should be put off by. If she was angry at being showed up, well, that would just make her a female Arthur, if Merlin ever had the opportunity to openly show Arthur up. So, well that was never really. But now Merlin had to navigate back to Arthur.

"NOW!"

Arthur had pulled the men forward, Merlin switched the protective instinct to offense. Merlin had to protect Arthur, but Arthur needed to win this battle because if he wins, Ealdor is safe. Maybe they could do this; maybe magic wan't always the fix. For that truth, Merlin would have to sacrifice a pretty meaningful destiny.

_Go ahead and take it, the fight is here whether I am a prophet Warlock or not._

_A destiny less weighted, chores lighter. Fine, good, I'll destroy them with or without destiny's glory!_

* * *

><p>Kanin's me disoriented, plan gone well. And the women were some of the first to tear the horsemen down. Now the ground was shaking with the stampede of horses with empty saddles and desperate men knocked of their high horses. Arthur couldn't bring a smile, but heat was there, the rage familiar-<em>use it, focus. Breathe. Think quick.<em>

_Slice, cut, block, tear, disarm, kill, move._

_Defend, move, attack!_

The men were unbelievable; with shovels and sticks, Kanin's men fell to them.

"Help the men by the pigs," Arthur commanded awkwardly. This moment was no civil battle, but it felt so poetic. A shining day with strong people standing sweaty and bloody and wild and awe-inspiring. _This is the image to keep of this day, this moment, something I saw thru with so little belief but these men just needed...I had needed support._

!DODGE!

A blade of an attacker, swept down on his left as he turned, the striker's eyes already holding that familiar pain of fallen men as Morgana's blade finished its pull across the man's chest.

**She** managed a smile.

"Never happened," Arthur once again decided.

_It didn't!_

Gwen takes down a guy with a shovel tool, _turn that inner laughter to strength Arthur_, which did fill him. The men were fighting primitively but valiantly, hell they were like blood thirsty warlords. Good men. Merlin had been right, the bloody wit, they just needed the confidence, the faith. Arthur could see Merlin's proud smirk that would come after this battle...

Merlin!

_Arthur, you idiot, stop the mind rambling!_

_Merlin's head nearly got chopped by a horseman while you spent your head's space being annoyed with him over nothing real._

_Still thought, clear thoughts...but who had saved...ah!...it was that kid, Merlin's friend "Will," made sure to remember that hot-headed spirit's name. Though a complete obstruction to everything accomplished with these men, the twit, was a bold kid, respectable now as he'd obviously come back to fight for his village, had saved my servant..._

_**Duck, stab, pull, move!**_

_...but a bloody distraction from common battle form._

"Kick threw the hen's to the men 'round the houses!"

Arthur stayed to fight the bulk at the center of the small village...The small village. The small village with a huge massacre at its heart, it was...

Arthur felt the drop, could never place if it was his own fear or doubt or an actual physical shift, but one look round saw the difference.

There's too many.

_Move, Breathe! Attack! Attack!_

"DRIVE THEM BACK!"

Arthur pushed with every force, trying to mentally control the battle, will it to Ealdor, make it work for Ealdor, but he...just doesn't have that kind of power...

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><p>"There's too many of them," came Will's confirmation, Merlin had already seen. It felt like time exploded, senses dropped, and he was simply looking at his life as it was: secret, useless, dangerous.<p>

"Not for me."

Merlin raised his hand, _powerful since birth, this battle is mine to control._

He said no spell, screamed no unnecessary sounds, the rushing rage inside him sent out what was needed by Ealdor: a whirlwind, an uncontrollable force, Merlin.

* * *

><p><em>Attack, kill. The man falls...a breeze. <em>Arthur looked over to the center of the village too see the loses, but his eyes stung as dust hit, a tornado literally springing up from the heart of the small village, as if its breath was pushing away the threat and pain brought by Kanin's men. Arthur watched as they were sent sprawling, devastated by the winds force, a wind that forced them out yet seemed to spark even more stability and ferocity in Ealdor's people. The enemy sent fleeing by this force, an unnatural wind, the creation existential, the source "divine" as would be said by others-the wind was magic, there was a person who conjured it, a sorcerer, a powerful person, a monster his father claimed, nothing more dangerous than a sorcerer in disguise. Arthur watched the wind wreak its destined havoc, the curse of magical creations being to destroy. It had begun in the center, in front of Merlin and Will.

"Pendragon!"

Kanin. The man had furry too his credit, but by the first strike Arthur knew he had him..._Dodge, strike, block, hit, stab...got it. Over._

Arthur walked towards Will and Merlin who had watched on the sides and demanded to know who conjured that wind. Arthur expected the two to try to calm him, protect the hidden sorcerer living amongst the villager- hell, they all could have been sorcerers- but the two hesitated, looking guilty. Arthur's frustration grew looking between the two, they looked frightened as if...caught...and then Merlin stepped forward saying,

"Arthur," so carefully and the Prince saw the cautious calm, the uncertainty. Merlin...had conjured the wind...

"Look out!"

The weight hit him, Will was pulling him down. Arthur made to push back when he saw the arrow pierce Will's heart, Kanin using his final strength to kill it.

Arthur heard Merlin cry out as his friend fell into the Prince's arms. Last place he'd probably want to be but...

"You saved my life"

"Yea, don't know what I was thinking," Will joked on.

Arthur brought him inside a house to lay him down, he watched as the brave man bled, there was no way to save him. The wound was fatal, the arrow broke right through Will's father's uniform, Will's heart.

Arthur watched Merlin watching his friend die, the guy always seemed so sensitive and...

"Yea, that wind, it was me."

It came not form Merlin, Arthur even looked to him when he heard the statement, but it was Will who was trying to draw his attention.

"Will, don't," and there was what Arthur suspected, Merlin, those pained eyes at seeing someone else in distress.

Arthur said disbelieving, "Your a sorcerer..."

"Yea," confessed Will with a quick head shake, and Arthur wondered if the man saw the doubt in his eyes, if he was just acting with little hope to...save Merlin again. From him, Prince of Camelot where magic is outlawed on pain of death. Because Arthur couldn't be trusted to watch out for Merlin while he was busy being a knight.

"What are you going to do, kill me?"

Arthur paused for a moment, thinking of the right way to say it, to make it mean something to the person he meant it for, the one who was watching with pained eyes.

"Of course not."

Because of course Arthur would not kill a good man who meant only to protect those he cared for. And Arthur left the house, guiding all besides Merlin and his friend out, carrying that resolve...but...

Honor, Arthur reasoned, as is a **true **knights way, is staying loyal to a sworn cause: in Arthur's case, his father's fight against magic. But honor was also upholding one's self with responsibility of behaving with nobility and self-respect. Was it more honorable to follow the difficult route of being responsible, or the difficult journey of making one's on path?

But...the honorable thing is always hard to manage, but in a true knight's heart it is always easy figure and accept.

* * *

><p><em>Pyre, flame, don't think so much you'll just cry in front of Arthur again, don't need a lecture from him.<em>

Will was the only friend Merlin had who actually knew who Merlin was. Gwen was sweet, Morgana so caring, and Arhtur...well he was Arthur...but none of them knew, none would understand. And Merlin wondered again of his destiny. Arthur needed his protection, Merlin was his guardian, he would protect Arthur...from the danger of being close to him.

And so Arthur stood next to Merlin as his friend was taken away by fire. How that must be. Arthur decided never to know, but for Merlin's sake, Arthur would not tell him of his fear till Merlin got around to revealing his concern of being burned.

_It was done to protect your home Merlin, just never do it again and you'll be fine. _

Arthur knew, from his father's occasional slips, that Merlin's guardian Gaius used to practice heavy magic, no doubt from whom Merlin got the spell. And if in his father's crusade the king saw fit to permit Gaius clemency, Arthur reasoned that Merlin should receive the same. When Merlin finally admitted to his deed, Arthur would brush it aside with the dignity of a knight, and then it would all be fine. Yet Merlin looked so pale, as though something in him was different. Arthur used all his will not believe that Merlin had somehow been corrupted by his use of magic; he was such an innocent and clueless fool, who knows what the exposure could have done to him. The idiot!

"Magic is dangerous, you shouldn't have kept this form me Merlin."

The servant kept eyes fixated on the flames. there was no response. So this was to be their secret together then...the treasonous Prince and his secret sorcerer servant, what a messed up mix, what good could come from it? But Arthur had decided to allow it, and he would keep to his decision. Merlin's secret was his till Merlin decided to reveal it, and Arthur would forgive him for it, and then they could return to their old selves: the Prince and the fool as it were.

* * *

><p>"You're like two sides of the same coin"<p>

Merlin smiled down at his mum,

"I've heard someone say that about us before," Merlin said lightly, but it was more than just observation. Merlin was Arthur's guardian, meant to keep the Prince safe as he focused on uniting the land of Albion.._.so maybe Arthur's got a pretty heavy destiny too...but he doesn't even have to deal with the burden of knowing it! Yea, he has to be king, deal with that stress, but never does he have to deal with my attitude knowing that one day will have to work around are differences and accomplish the seemingly over-ambitious future. _

_So, young Pendragon, we go back to Camelot as the Prat Prince and his secret reluctant ally, your Guardian._

But...maybe, one day...a true knight along side his true friend.


End file.
